Imatges de pàgina
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for fresh supplies of grace and goodness, "for the strengthening and refreshing of our souls in all holiness and virtue." As our natural bodies are fed and nourished with those elements of bread and wine, the same effect is wrought in the soul, in the inward man, by these holy mysteries, as in the outward man by bread and wine, bread being the staff of life, and wine the most soveriegn cordial (when taken in due proportion) to cheer and rejoice the heart. Thus our souls, by this Sacrament, are strengthened with grace, wisdom, courage, and all other spiritual gifts, to keep us through faith unto salvation. But the comfort and benefit of it are great; the comfort of it, because it does not only represent to us the exceeding love of our Saviour, in giving his body to be broken, and his blood to be shed for us; but it likewise seals to us all the blessings which are purchased and procured for us by his death and passion; namely, the pardon of sin, and power against it. The benefit of frequent communion is also of great advantage, because hereby we are confirmed in all grace and goodness; our resolutions to live in obedience and conformity toGod's

laws are strengthened; and the grace of God's Holy Spirit, to do his will, is hereby conveyed to us. It proves a sovereign remedy against all temptations, by mortifying our passions, and by spi, ritualizing our affections. In a word, it is the most likely method to make our bodies the temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 19. and to prepare our souls for the enjoyment of God to all eternity.

Even our relapses, after receiving the sacrament, should not induce us to refrain from attending again on that holy ordinance: for, in this state of imperfection, we must ever be subject to sins of inadvertency. If the sins of which we might be guilty since our last receiving of the sacrament, were not wilful and allowed; if, on the contrary, the relapse be followed by anxiety and contrition; if we feel that godly sorrow which worketh to repentance, 2 Cor. vii. 10. and do not, on any consideration whatever, consider the goodness and mercy of God as an encouragement to repeat our former sins, instead of truly endeavouring to forsake them utterly: then may we again approach the holy table, without any ap

prehension of incuring the guilt of eating and drinking unworthily, and the consequent punishment denounced by the apostle Paul on the profane communicants at Corinth.

Some people have been discomposed at their devotions, on the repetition of some expressions, contained in the last Exhortation to the Communion; namely," of being guilty of the body and "blood of Christ our Saviour,-ofeating "and drinking our own damnation,"Not considering the Lord's body,

Kindling God's wrath against us,"Provoking him to plague us with divers "diseases and sundry kinds of death." These are hard sayings, and some of them too hard to be understood. They are all avoided, however, by coming worthily, that is, with Faith and Repentance. Therefore, let not these terrible expres sions trouble you, or detain you from the Holy Communion. Repent and believe, (with that faith which worketh to obedience, and that true repentance which leadeth to life eternal) and you are secure from falling into any of the dangers, with which these sentences may seem to threaten you. The want of

preparation, therefore, as some men have alleged, and in the sense they generally takeit, can never be a sufficient plea for their not coming to the Holy Communion; because, after our best endeavours to prepare ourselves, we profess before God and the congregation," that we "do not come to this heavenly table "trusting in our own righteousness, but "in his great and manifold mercies," revealed by Jesus Christ our Lord. By these we are invited to come; and to the mercy of God (through Christ) all of us must flee. To him we must repair for refuge, who has promised that he will in no wise cast out those who comė unto him, and to whom the royal penitent said, A broken and a contrite Heart, O God, thou wilt not despise, Psalm li. 17. There is nothing dreadful in this sacrament but to the wilful, impenitent, and persevering sinner; and every page in scripture is terrible against such, whether they come or not; but to the humble and penitent soul, nothing is forbidding in this holy feast; for none are condemned for unworthy receiving, but such who deserve it for continuing in their iniquities; and this impenitence renders even

their prayers an "abomination unto the Lord." Prov. xxviii. 9. Though they never partake of the body and blood of Christ, they are in equal danger with those who eat and drink unworthily. The surest way to prevent our condemnation, is to receive the sacrament more frequently than men usually do, that by a constant participation of this spiritual food, of the living bread which comes down from heaven, their souls may be nourished in all goodness, and new supplies of God's grace may be derived, for the purifying of their hearts, and enabling them to run in the ways of God's commandments with more constancy and delight than they did before: so that the consequence of eating and drinking unworthily, should rather excite our care and diligence in this duty, than delude us with false reasoning, to such a neglect as will certainly increase our guilt; it being certain that God will never condemn any man for striving to do his duty to the best of his ability. If there be first a willing mind, saith the Apostle, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not, 2 Cor. viii. 12. Neither ought we to think so

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